Martin Esslin famous quotes

Last updated: Sep 5, 2024

The dignity of man lies in his ability to face reality in all its meaninglessness.
-- Martin Esslin

#Lying #Reality #Men
It has been rightly said that what a critic wants to understand he must, at one time, have deeply loved, even if only for a fleeting moment.
-- Martin Esslin

#Fleeting #Want #Moments
The Theatre of the Absurd is a theatrical embodiment and manifestation of existentialism. It is part reality and part nightmare
-- Martin Esslin

#Reality #Theatre #Embodiment
Today, when death and old age are increasingly concealed behind euphemisms and comforting baby talk, and life is threatened with being smothered in the mass consumption of hypnotic mechanized vulgarity, the need to confront man with the reality of his situation is greater than ever. For the dignity of man lies in his ability to face reality in all its senselessness; to accept it freely, without fear, without illusions - and to laugh at it.
-- Martin Esslin

#Baby #Lying #Reality
There is a lot of dignity in having the ability to confront the inconsequence of reality.
-- Martin Esslin

#Reality #Dignity #Ability
The Theatre of the Absurd ... can be seen as the reflection of what seems to be the attitude most genuinely representative of our own time. The hallmark of this attitude is its sense that the certitudes and unshakable basic assumptions of former ages have been swept away, that they have been tested and found wanting, that they have been discredited as cheap and somewhat childish illusions.
-- Martin Esslin

#Attitude #Reflection #Age
The Theatre of the Absurd has renounced arguing about the absurdity of the human condition; it merely presents it in being - that is, in terms of concrete stage images. This is the difference between the approach of the philosopher and that of the poet; the difference, to take an example from another sphere, between the idea of God in the works of Thomas Aquinas or Spinoza and the intuition of God in those of St. John of the Cross or Meister Eckhart - the difference between theory and experience.
-- Martin Esslin

#Ideas #Differences #Intuition

White in the moon the long road lies, The moon stands blank above; White in the moon the long road lies That leads me from my love. Still hangs the hedge without a gust, Still, still the shadows stay: My feet upon the moonlit dust Pursue the ceaseless way. The world is round, so travellers tell, And straight through reach the track, Trudge on, trudge on, 'twill all be well, The way will guide one back. But ere the circle homeward hies Far, far must it remove: White in the moon the long road lies That leads me from my love.
Lovers lying two and two Ask not whom they sleep beside, And the bridegroom all night through Never turns him to the bride.
White in the moon the long road lies.
I have known men to hazard their fortunes, go long journeys halfway about the world, forget friendships, even lie, cheat, and steal, all for the gain of a book.
Socializing on the internet is to socializing what reality TV is to reality.
God never can use any man very much till he has grace enough to forget himself entirely while doing God's work; for He will not give His glory to another nor share with the most valued instrument the praise that belongs to Jesus Christ alone.
I cannot understand how any man or woman can believe in the Lord's coming and not be a missionary, or at least committed to the work of missions with every power of his being.
We always knew how to honor fallen soldiers. They were killed for our sake, they went out on our mission. But how are we to mourn a random man killed in a terrorist attack while sitting in a cafe? How do you mourn a housewife who got on a bus and never returned?
A devotee should be fixed in the conclusion that, the spiritual master cannot be subject to criticism and should never be considered equal to a common man.
Life, to be sure, is nothing much to lose, But young men think it is, and we were young.

Martin Esslin famous quotes

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